OBAMA-RUSSIA 2 LAST

"The truth is, that there was nobody here who did not have"The truth is, that there was nobody here who did not have some sense of what kind of effect it might have. I am finding it a little curious that everybody is suddenly acting surprised that this looked like it was disadvantaging Hil

"The truth is, that there was nobody here who did not have

"The truth is, that there was nobody here who did not have some sense of what kind of effect it might have. I am finding it a little curious that everybody is suddenly acting surprised that this looked like it was disadvantaging Hillary Clinton, because you guys wrote about it every day, every single leak about every little juicy tidbit of political gossip, including John Podestas risotto recipe," he said.

This particular concern around Russian hacking is part of a broader set of concerns about how the US deals with cyber issues being used in ways that can affect the infrastructure, affect the stability of financial systems, and affect the integrity of institutions like election process, Obama said.

"Just as I told Russia to stop it and indicated there will be consequences when they do it, the Chinese have in the past engaged in cyberattacks directed at our companies to steal trade secrets and proprietary technology, and I had to have the same conversation with President Xi," Obama said.

"What weve seen is some evidence that they have reduced but not completely eliminated these activities, partly because they can use cutouts," he said.

Noting that one of the problems with the internet and cyber issues was there is not always a return address, Obama said by the time one catches up to it, attributing what happened to a particular government could be difficult and not always provable in court.